The Weekends Suck?

I know what you are thinking. How could I possibly think (or even write) that the weekends suck?

Well... they don't really... maybe just the ones that I work. However, I find that on my weekends off, I DON'T WORK OUT! I become a lazy little sack of fill-in-the-blank. I even had aspirations to run this evening. I didn't quite make it.

There B sat on the couch and he just looked so darn comfy. So I sat next to him and cuddled INSTEAD OF working out.

Why am I such an ass?

Oh well.

We have been having lots of fun. We had dinner with our neighbors tonight. They are just so much fun!

Now... it is time to convince the men that it is not fun to watch them play XBOX and to actually play Rockband!

Sorry it is so short! Much love to one and all! :)

Whoo, I am Impressed

So I actually have been super good on using my treadmill lately. I didn't run yesterday, but I did on Monday and today. Having yesterday off, may have been a mistake as running did not yield improvement today.

So I stayed on for 45 minutes instead of 30.

This impresses me.

Tomorrow I work a 12 and need to keep motivated afterward so that I don't miss another day on the treadmill.

And can remain impressed.

In other things... I have been a complete easter candy monster. I need to quit the sweet crap for good... but... I LOVE EASTER CANDY!

Took the boys on a walk tonight. They really sucked with their halti leashes, but got better as the walk wore on. So overall, they are good.

I have been busy making oodles of crocheted pets and selling them to co-workers. This year 100% of the proceeds are going to MS so that is going good. I am 14% closer to completing my goal. Then I have got to work on B's donations.

And last but not least... I broke down and bought the Black Eyed Peas extended album from itunes. It totally rocks.

The countdown continues to my 30th birthday... this Friday we are celebrating with friends at Cafe Sabor (my favorite Logan restaurant). Should be fun!

Much love to all.

The MS Tour!

FINALLY! I got both B and me registered for the MS tour! So this blog is a plea for your $$$$! B and I are trying to raise $250.00 a piece in order to ride. In order to do this, we are gonna tug at your heart strings just a little bit.

The gal below here with me is my sister in law Jen. She is a fantastic woman who has done many amazing things in her life. In 2006 she was diagnosed with MS. My family and I have done the MS tour ever since.

Look at how bad ass we all look!

If this isn't quite heart tugging enough... My friend Monica (the only blonde below), also has been diagnosed with this devastating disease.

So YES I do ride to support these two women whom I adore. I also ride because, as a nurse I have taken care of many patients who have been afflicted with MS. Currently there is no cure. So let's donate what we can in order to get closer to a cure!

At the bottom of this blog is a link to make donating easy as pie! Click here and help me raise money!

Patty's MS donations

I will also be keeping this link on my blog side bar in hopes to raise all of the money possible for this ride!

This year we ride 75 miles and we thank you all so much for your support!

An Old Photo for a New Post

Today has been great. I had the day off, well mostly. I had my home health visit, but that was over and done with in like 30 minutes (including drive time).

Our temperature hit 64 degrees today! I got all of the un-snow-covered dog poop cleaned up. I got all of our laundry done. And... I WENT ON A BIKE RIDE! Yeah!

Below here is a photo of my sister and I on last years Little Red Riding Hood bike ride.

She and I rode 46 miles together. We had a blast. We talked today and got ourselves super excited for this years ride! It is on the first weekend in June and we signed up for 80 miles. The bike ride is female only and it raises money for cancer. Last year it focused on breast cancer.

At any rate, B and I got our bikes out tonight after he got home from work and rode. We only went 12 miles and our average speed was 12.74 mph, so I have A LOT to work on. I need to get that average up! Usually by mid season my average is about 16 mph, but I am looking to improve upon that this year!

Tomorrow is supposed to be a crappy weather day up here. Lucky for me I work a 12 hour shift so I won't be missing out on too much! B and I are super excited to be hitting the road lots this year!

Well, in other things, I am crocheting a hippo. He is gonna be cute. But at the moment I am grillin' some steaks, so this post has gotta be short.

Much love to all, and a special love to Taylor who had surgery on his broken ankle today! Hope all went well with that!

Elephant Evolution... and a Cow

This is elephant evolution. From left to right you see my first, second, and last elephant. It only took me three times to get the damn pattern down.

Here you have side-view of elephant evolution. My middle elephant looks more like an anteater.

An ugly one.

So below here you have blue. I never did finish him because he was so obviously wrong. He now is a toy for the dogs. The unfortunate thing here is that now whenever I am making an amigurumi pet, the dogs patiently wait at my feet because they think that it might be for them.

Here is Ugly Anteater. I know exactly where I messed up in this pattern. To my credit, the pattern is kind of written poorly in that area.

Now here is a close-up front view of the cutest pocket pal you could ever have. I was so happy when this finally worked.

Just look at how cute he is. In this side view he looks like he is walking... no I didn't do that on purpose.

And now... my cow. It is cute, but I can still see all of my flaws in it. I had a co-worker request a cow, so this is my first attempt. She hasn't seen it yet, but she will see it tomorrow. We will see how she likes it... if she likes it.

Side view of cow. I didn't purposefully make his head turn to the side, it just sort of happened that way.

And now... Life.

Things have been good. Really busy, but really good. I even went jogging on my break from work today! Hooray! I used to do that a lot last year. Today, after I got ready for work, I packed my gym bag and went jogging. Now this really is a big deal. I never jog outside because I fear judgment. I know that the auto's that pass me have people in them that are probably looking out their windows and thinking "look at the cute fat girl... at least she is out there." But finally, mind over matter. I got out there and did it. I am so proud of me!

I knew that if I didn't jog on my break that I would come home and just hang out on the couch and feel guilty for not getting on my treadmill for the couch to 5k program. So, when I work my 12 hour shifts, I get an hour break from 1 to 2 PM on most days. That is how I spent my time.

Today was a busy, typical, Monday for me at work. I am glad it is over. I go back tomorrow for an 8 hour shift. But the other good news here is that I may just be working 12's next month! That is fantastic. I love 3 days a week of work! I LOVE it!

B and I went with our neighbors and saw 'The Crazies' yesterday. It is pretty darn scary. I didn't see the whole thing because when scary movies get intense I either close my eyes and just listen, or plug my ears and just watch... on occasion I will do both. So I saw most of the film, and heard most of it too. It is scary!

In other things... we turned Gordon into a blanket. Isn't he cute?

Well people, I am tired. I know it is not much of a blog, but it is a blog nonetheless. I have missed the blogging world lately! I hope one and all are fine!

Much Love!

I am Almost 30... Holy Crap!

I can't believe that I will be 3o years old at the end of March. I don't feel 30. A lot of very nice people tell me that I don't look like I am 30. I really do like that. When I was younger I always thought it was stupid how women hated to admit their age. I never understood it.

I understand it now.

Things have been interesting for me lately on an emotional level. I have been thinking A LOT about my parents. I miss them so much. I hate that they are dead. I find that certain things will set me off lately. Even happy songs... songs that they haven't even heard... songs that make no sense to make me sentimental.

I was cleaning today and listening to my ipod and the song 'Rama Lama' by Roison Murphy came on... and it almost made me cry. I was just overwhelmed for no good reason. Instead of letting a good cry out... I stayed the course of house cleaning. Sometimes I wish I could just let myself feel what I need to feel. But falling apart and crying right then and there would not have been appropriate. That is what I kept on thinking. I am not sure why I thought that... but it kept me from taking a few minutes to myself.

How do I change that? How do I let myself realize that it is not selfish to take some time for me? I think if I even had allowed myself to sit and get it all out, I would have felt inadequate in some way. I am sure one day I will have all the answers!

On to other things that are not so... different.

So my sister made a small, tiny pocket elephant. I found the exact pattern that she used and I tried to replicate it. Here is my elephant:

I quit making him because he is just not right.

He was supposed to look like this one below:

My sister can do anything. I will try again. We will see if I can get it.

Now, something that I got for B that made me laugh. My friend Stacey and I were out getting some snacks at a gas station a few weeks ago. They were selling these tacky pens with horses and dogs and other animals carved out of wood.

I found a schnauzer one. I got it and gave it to B.

We laughed and laughed.

Could you imagine B using this pen at work or at school? How funny would that be? It sits in our kitchen drawer. We use it to, you know, write with.

Well, my house is clean. I have blogged. I am going to do my couch to 5k workout this evening. I am also going to pick a low-carb soup recipe from my new 'low carb cooking for dummies' book and we shall consume. I also plan on making protein bars. It is my day off, and I sure am being boring, but I am getting a lot done.

In other things, I have decided to help me raise money for the MS tour this year, I will make some small crocheted stuffed pets. They will be cuter than my first elephant attempt. I think that will help to raise the $500.00 I have to raise this year. Not a bad idea right?

Anyway, I hope all is well with everyone!

IT'S MARCH!!!

Over the last few days, I have been sick. I dunno what is going on. I have had a fever of unknown origin... low grade... and have been really lethargic. I even called in sick to work on Monday because my stomach felt like it was on fire, I was extremely nauseated and had a headache from hell. Today, I am happy to be welcomed back into the world of being a human!

So let's see. On February 27th I took my mutts in for a hair cut. Here is their before picture:

My cute little bears! I love them. I asked that the groomers leave a little skirt to their legs, not a longer skirt, which is more traditional to a schnauzer cut. They did a great job and Arnold was given a chest pelt.

He is now the Neal Diamond of dogs! I am really digging his chest pelt.

We took are dogs to a local place called Stylin' Pets and they did a great job.

Also on February 27th my brother Dee turned 34. He is a great guy. We celebrated on the 28th at Steves house. It was so much fun. B was unable to go and neither was Angie (Dee's wife). So it was the siblings hangin' out old school with their kids and Steve's wife Jen was there. She is a hoot and a hollar! We had a great time.

Below is photo we took. I had to tip-toe to get in this photo!

Me and my brothers!

We ate fondue and watched the American's lose to the Canadians in hockey. We just laughed and had so much fun. I hated to go, but had to in order to get home at a good time.

Below is my departing photo:

It was after that night that I got so sick.

I am feeling much better now though and that is great because it is so sunny here now and spring fever (which isn't contagious by the way) has hit me hard.

I am happy to start back into exercising again, now that I have energy. I can't believe how down and out I have been. I didn't even want to blog or do anything. The thought of spending my time doing something other than sleeping was just overwhelming.

In other news, we are getting our own team ready for the MS Bike Tour. I will soon be pleading with one and all for donations so get ready! We are going to register our own team this year which is new for us as we usually ride with Harmons. I believe our team will be called S.O.B. In the medical world this stands for 'Short of Breathe', in New York (and elsewhere) it stands for 'Son of a Bi***', really you can come up with your own interpretation.

We are also going to be selling some bikes coming up here. So if you are interested or know someone who is, refer them to me!

Thanks to one and all. I hope all is well with everyone!